


Resurrection

by LunaUlric



Series: Cyber AU [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV, Kingsglaive
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Battle, F/M, Sci-Fi, computer, cyber au, cyber!nyx, cyborg, hologram!luna, lunyx, otp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 17:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15175538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaUlric/pseuds/LunaUlric
Summary: Nyx and Luna attempt to revive an old relic during battle.





	Resurrection

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on [the gifset I made in my main blog recently](http://annaoi.tumblr.com/post/175298038608/are-you-sure-thisll-work-princess-it-has). I’m not really confident writing this one as it delves into this AU’s lore a lot. That’s why it took me months before I could write this. I made this my practice for action and I hope it’s not all complicated and messy.

 

His mechanical hand twitched every few minutes. Blood flowed on the metal of the arm, a steady stream from the shoulder and dripping from one of the fingers. Red marked on the sand as if to tell each second that passed.

There wasn’t much time.

The explosions from afar cracked like rumbling thunder. The rocks under the soles of his feet trembled of the mayhem and of the enemy’s calculated onslaughts. The warning wasn’t just in the smoke that snuffed out the sun or on the red cliffs and boulders that wore the scars of forgotten battles. Battle cries of his comrades were in whimpered echoes. Mortals against machines; human flaws against the perfection of programmed warriors.

Nyx’s human hand held the hilt of the blade tightly. Flesh and blood alone can’t win this one, he deemed. Even if the humans themselves were ‘fixed’ and ‘upgraded’ to even up the odds.   
  
The cyborg glaive looked away and stood face to face with a motionless giant - a warrior of the old wall.   
  
Decades of rust had colored it, consuming its identity and embedding it among the rocks and the hills. It was part of the canyon’s stillness, like the boulders and rocks that cast shadows and watch the days go by silently. But unlike them, it returned the stare like it was an old king seeking the subjects’ meekness or a god who saw a weakling at its feet.  With the light gone from its eyes and its limbs relaxed on defeat, it sat on the rock as if it had been resting - waiting.   
  
The old wall was just a bedtime story. Just a collection of tales about colossal, humanoid machines that fought each other a long time ago and how the grandiose war between Lucis and Niflheim started with them as the frontliners. Nyx’s mother told him of the stories when he was a child, and in turn, he told his little sister when he was old enough to stay up at night. Giants protecting a city and fighting the enemy was a story worth telling to feed anyone’s imagination.   
  
It was just a bedtime story.  
  
And here he was, not imagining the titan in front of him, seeing all the man-made bolts, wires and large iron plates that make up the hands, the feet, the body and the head. It existed, it fought and it died. As if someone had looked into his past make-believe and turned it into a reality. But he couldn’t dwell in the awe of this historical discovery.   
  
There wasn’t much time.  
  
“Are you sure this’ll work, princess?” he asked a ghost.  
  
“It has to.” she replied, appearing by his side.   
  
Luna’s image flickered every few minutes. But she glowed against the arid stone wall and rusting metal. Life among the dead at a glance, and yet the woman could not be held or touched. She was just a translucent projection. A computer program saved in a microchip next to his brain. They told him she was a product of ones and zeroes like any other operating system - a guide and companion to help him in combats. However, her actions and ticks outside the battles - her projections and conversations -, showed something much more. She claimed to have some memories of her mysterious past life. She showed emotions like any living person does.  
  
For a moment, Luna wasn’t looking at the decades-old, thousand ton, relic. Her sights landed at the floating screen next to her where it marked letters and numbers.   
  
 _Damage: 65%_  
Energy: 47%  
  
The header bore his name.  
  
Her face held a hint of worry. She closed her eyes as the projection of numbers and his name disappeared into nothingness.   
  
“I’ve turned off your pain receptors.” she said.  
  
He nodded. “I know.”  
  
“When I infiltrate the old wall’s system, you might feel them come back up and your energy might get reduced to seven percent or less before I switch my energy source from yours to the titan’s.”  
  
A minor consequence, he told himself. The glaives needed this right now while they could still be saved.  
  
Her eyes glimpsed at the space behind him, into the smoky horizon. “There’s a seventy percent chance that Nif scouts will find us before I complete my infiltration”   
  
“Luna, just do it.”

Her brows still etched the concern and maybe even doubt. She seemed to have given herself a few seconds of hesitation before another floating screen appeared beside her. Codes and commands he couldn’t read streamed into it. Determination replaced the disquiet in her eyes.   
  
The infiltration was in motion.  
  
It was Luna’s idea. She spotted the dead titan on the radar before the battle even began. While other systems ignored it, she had put it into consideration for a contingency. Every probability was presented. The decommissioned relic could be of good use; the core engine seemed intact, the limbs weren’t damaged except for the left arm, the primitive processors on its head appear to be untouched by looters. Theoretically, a system such as her would be able to control it and use it in combat.  _Theoretically._  However, the good chances might’ve been dragged down by a mile because of the cyborg’s current state. Nyx had already earned his fair share of wounds, be it mechanical damage and bleeding cuts on flesh, as well as a reduction of his power. He is Luna’s energy source. The more she exerts effort on the task, the more of his strength depletes. Based on the stats she showed earlier, it was too obvious their odds weren’t good.  
  
Minutes passed by but it already felt like an hour. Nyx kept watch on the natural gateways and crevices of the canyon. The explosions were getting nearer. He kept the blade at ready.  
  
“How is it going so far, princess?” he asked.   
  
A gust of wind passed through her projection but she didn’t blink nor her hair and clothes swayed. The codes and commands still flooded the screen in lightning speed.   
  
“I’ve broken into three layers of firewall but it might take longer than anticipated.” she informed.  
  
“So old tech might not mean easily-penetrable tech.” he voiced. “I guess whoever was in charge of these things back then had enough brains to keep this thing as unusable as possible.”  
  
“Precisely. Automated weapons should remain dead to keep the enemy from using them.”  
  
“Weapons… “ he muttered.   
  
Every weapon including him and her. Including the soldiers and systems who fought the Empire. The glaive mulled over his existence in his rest. The revival of life had been discouraged and yet he lived again for the war. What she was doing now to the giant was no different from what the scientists had done to the glaives. To him. To her, if she indeed possessed a past life. But maybe life needs to come back from time to time.   
  
After another visual sweep around the canyon, Nyx stopped to look at Luna and he granted himself more than just a glimpse. His mind drifted to the time she told him about blurry images of her memories. And a flower. Her favorite flower.  
  
Echoes of machines shrilled into the passages.   
  
Nyx snapped back to focus and hurried to a spot behind a nearby boulder. He crouched and held the blade at ready, with his head exposed to look out. He felt the pain of his injuries growing back. His mechanical hand twitched. He butted it on the rock to make it stop.  
  
“Is it almost done?” he asked.  
  
There was no hesitation in her answer. “There are more firewalls. I need more time.”  
  
“How much?”   
  
“Five minutes minimum.”  
  
He can hear them spreading, marching, scanning as if they taunted their prey. “We don’t have five minutes.”  
  
And as predicted, he spotted their eyes glowing bright red, under the shadow of a cliff. He counted six figures, biped robots of the Empire - the Magitek or MTs - steadily marching towards him. Their faces stare at him straight, blank and emotionless, telling of the remorseless programming to seek and destroy. Their blood stained exoskeleton didn’t seem to bear as much damage as his mechanical parts had and they move as if they hadn’t gone from a battle.   
  
The metal in him felt heavier. Fatigue. She was taking a lot of the energy now. He looked back at the giant and found none of her projection.   
  
“I’m saving power but I’m still connected to the titan.” she sounded in his communication line, explaining her disappearance. “Your energy is at thirty-”  
  
Gunfire cut off her voice. His head dropped down. Bullets landed on the rock shielding him. He scanned the canyon crevices if there was a way to escape.   
  
“You can’t go too far or else I’ll lose connection.” she said.   
  
More shots came. He kept his head low. “So basically I’m stuck here until you wake up that thing.”  
  
“Yes. Just stay alive.”

He almost sounded a wry chuckle. “Easier said than done, princess.”  
  
More barrages of bullets came in shifting directions. The MTs were on the go now, trying to catch the glaive in an unprotected position. Nyx sprinted towards the boulders to his right. The rounds missed his legs by an inch. He stopped when he was behind another rock but he didn’t let himself relax. With their arm guns, the MTs rained ammunition on him. The glaive dropped his head again and waited, counting the best possibilities to counteract the situation.   
  
Ammunition wasn’t unlimited and they have been in the battle for hours before finding him. That’s good enough to hope for.   
  
At a count, he jumped out towards another boulder to hide. The gunfire tailed again. The bullets almost grazed his head. The MTs converged closer. His shoulder slammed on the rock as he stopped. The pain screamed on his drop. His lungs heaved to pant as he kept his blade by his chest. Words stumbled in between breaths.  
  
“What’s the progress?”    
  
“Four firewalls left.”   
  
“How much longer-”  
  
Suddenly, something roughly landed on his side, an MT. The ax it held was raised to aim and it came down fast. The glaive blocked its blow with his blade. The robot raised the weapon again but he was prepared for it. He moved in a circular motion for a back strike, piercing the blade into the MT’s head with swift force. Sparks flew. The robot went limp. He put the blade into the holster and shifted the now lifeless MT to cover himself. Bullets ricochet on the metal. He grabbed arm-rifle of the robot and pointed it at the rest of the fast approaching enemy. He found the trigger, pressed it and let the ammunition fly at those things.

One was hit on the head, the body slamming on the dusty ground instantly. The others diverged and continued to shoot.

“You’re energy is down at thirty-six percent.” Luna informed.

“Don’t remind me. Just concentrate on the titan.” Nyx grunted, aiming at the nearest MT and squeezing the trigger.

The bullet made a hole, making the latest dead robot the third of his kill. The others were too near for comfort, so he quickly ripped the arm-gun from the dead MT and carried it as he ran towards another set boulders for safety. They followed him again. His legs were heavy. He felt a bullet piercing one of them. The glaive made it to the boulders but the MTs still flanked at him heavily. The only thing that kept them from jumping in on him was his retaliation with the salvaged arm-gun.

Her voice hazed into his ear. She sounded worried. “Damage is up by seventy percent.”

He didn’t mind the numbers. “Done with the firewalls?”

“Only two left.”

Then the noise stopped. He peeked above the rock and saw them dispelling the empty clips. He took the opportunity to shoot but the arm-gun only sounded clicks when he squeezed the trigger again. Two of the enemy took out their axes. One MT’s arm shifted into a different kind of weapon. Not another arm-gun but a slender looking apparatus. The tip sparked with electricity.

A shock trooper. Of course, they brought one with them.

Nyx ignored the hole on his metal leg and the pain coming back. He took out his knife again and trudged out into the open, limping, tired, and bleeding. The busted hand now twitched endlessly, his metal parts slowly weighed him down like anchors. Some meters away, the two ax-wielding MTs created distance from each other, pacing, seizing their would-be victim like mocking hyenas. The shock trooper MT stayed still on the center, its glowing eyes on Nyx. The glaive will his mechanical hand to form an angry closed fist.

“Now would be a good time to wake it up, princess.” he muttered, forming a stance as he quickly took out his blade.

Alarm in her voice seeped through the haze. “It’s almost complete! Hold on!”

The two MTs charged to converge on him, covering the distance within seconds. They barreled down the axes and Nyx spun away to the right and elbowed one of them to the head with his mechanical arm. The other one quickly swung back with the ax but he blocked it with the blade. With no hesitation, the first one recovered and charged its weapon for the second time. Before the sharp edge touched his face, his twitching hand grabbed on the shaft just below of the ax-head. Then he launched it forward. Hard. Making a sizable crater on the MT’s emotionless face. The robot stumbled back and fell on the ground, convulsing.

The glaive turned back to the other one, blade ready and arm on guard. It swung the ax to the side and he countered with a blocked. But his legs were jelly. He prevented the cut but he stumbled to the side. It got him winded. He felt too heavy.

“Nyx! Your energy! Get out of there!” Luna shrieked.

Another attempted by the MT to chop through him and another block. “Don’t worry about me! Just keep going!” he groaned.

The ax came down again and this time he blocked with the arm. It sliced through the hand lengthwise, almost reaching the wrist. Sparks flew. Nyx screamed in pain. But the ax was stuck and the glaive took the chance to dive the blade into his adversary’s head. The MT went limp. It fell into the ground after he pulled out his weapon.

Then out of nowhere, a jolt hit Nyx with full force. It paralyzed him, his whole body in tremor, burning. And then it stopped.

He found himself on the ground, lying on the side, every part of him twitching uncontrollably. His left eye - one of the mechanical parts - losing clear sight. There was ill in his stomach. His skin felt scorched. His head was on the ground and his sights were on the approaching shock trooper. The remaining MT, with the odd slender arm pointed at him, approached slowly. The giant behind the robot still sat on the rock uncaring. Then, he saw the blade on the sand. He willed his hand to reach it but he couldn’t move.

Luna’s choppy voice screamed for him to get up.

“Princess…”

It was out of the blue when he started calling her by that nickname. Maybe it was in her poise and proper manners. Maybe because she, her projection as she chose it, seemed to have belonged to royalty. She glowed into the night, in his sad little apartment. She smiled when he called that.

Nyx woke up from the memory and felt the panic rise up from his chest.

The MT, towering over him, pushed the glaive’s shoulder with its foot. He was now lying on his back. Helpless. He still couldn’t move. Couldn’t exact his revenge. Then the merciless machine stepped on his throat, allowing the weight of the metal to crush his windpipe. He let out a garbled gag. His human hand was the first to move but it could only grab the robot’s ankle weakly. Nothing was working. His mechanical limbs weren’t obeying his call to fight. No energy to control them now.

He felt the weight on his throat increase. He felt weak. So weak.

Then without warning…

Something big - something colossal - moved. Something was crushed. The ground shook. The previously undisturbed rocks and wall faces were coming apart. Nothing weight down on his throat anymore. He gasped for air and opened his eyes. He saw her eyes and the trident she was holding upright. The giant stood up into the sky. Clouds seemed to be within its reach, the canyon was its footstool. The gears spun. The dust was shaken off. The eyes glowed of life and of a familiar light. Her light. In its hand was the MT, who was to exterminate him. It lay dead on the giant’s hands with most of it crushed. And the glaive felt immeasurable relief and awe.

Luna’s trident disappeared from her grasp. “Exterminate all of Niflheim’s forces. Defend the glaives. Save them all.” she ordered to the old wall’s warrior as if it should bow down to her. The giant moved in its slow and graveling pace, making noise and quakes with each of its gargantuan steps.

Luna crouched down beside her wounded glaive. Her hand touched his cheek as if she was tangible. “I’ve called for a medic. You’ll be okay.” she assured. The distress was still evidently etched on her face.

“Well that was easy.” he said, the voice almost nonexistent.

“The odds were stacked against us” she retorted

The glaive managed to smirk. “I knew you could do it.”

She let out a weak chuckle and smiled. The image made him forget what she was for a moment. Whatever she was, computer or someone before as she claimed, she was heaven-sent.

Still crouching down, Luna informed him of her remote controlling of the giant. The distance didn’t matter anymore as its remote antenna was designed for long range control. She was able to tap into its energy core and thereby connecting it to Nyx’s  - making the giant his power bank. She showed his stats again on a floating screen. The three percent energy slowly incremented to four, five, six…

“You’ll be able to move soon.” she said. “At least to safety.”

He felt the control coming back to his mechanical limbs, he looked to the side and saw the giant making its way to save his friends. The quakes in its steps fading as it went further away from him.

“They’re going to be saved…You’re safe…” she said, like he needed assurance or maybe because she was telling herself that.

His eyes drooped to a close. He felt no fear knowing she was there with him. “I know.”


End file.
